This invention relates generally to tobacco stripping machines used to strip the cured leaves from stalks of burley tobacco. More specifically, the invention deals with the stripping rollers which engage the leaves as they hang generally downwardly from the horizontally supported tobacco stalk.
The stripping of burley tobacco has traditionally been a labor intensive operation that has been done by hand by farmers for several hundred years. Recently a burley tobacco stripping machine has been developed which resolves this time consuming operation in a manner which does not damage the tender tobacco leaf.
It has been discovered in working with this tobacco stripping machine that the design of the stripping rollers is essential to the effectiveness of the operation. There are at least two of these rollers mounted for counter rotation beneath a stalk receiving member. It has been found that the contour of the exterior surface of the stripping roller, as well as the material utilized to form the stripping roller, is of critical importance in the successful operation of the tobacco stripper. The material which comprises the stripping roller must be resilient enough to give when the tobacco leaf passes therebetween without crushing the leaf, but yet be firm enough to grip at the nip to exert a gentle but generally downwardly pulling action to remove the leaf from the stalk. Additionally, because the tobacco leaf is fed into the nip formed between the counter-rotating stripping rollers, the edge of the rollers first encountered by the leaf must be shaped so as to promote the easy movement of the leaves from this entry area into the main stripping area or base portion of the stripping roller. Finally, it has been found under some crop conditions that a gummy substance builds up on the surface of the stripping rollers. This gummy substance must be removed and can easily be done so by immersing the stripping roller in water. Therefore, it is essential that the stripping rollers be mounted to the tobacco stripping machine in a manner that permits their easy removal.
The foregoing problems are solved in the design of the stripping roller of the present invention by providing in a tobacco stripping machine a stripping roller that is contoured in shape having a nose portion, a transition area and a base portion which primarily engages the tobacco leaf for stripping so as to permit tobacco leaves to be continuously fed along a nip formed by a pair of counter-rotating stripping rollers as well as permitting the stripping rollers to be easily removed from the stripping machine for cleaning.